Human Synergistics

Human Synergistics (LSI, GSI, LI, MI, OCI & OEI)

Human Synergistics is a research-based framework used for individual, group and organisational development.

It is based on a rigorous, quantitative human behaviour measure named The Circumplex which describes twelve styles of thinking and behaving and organises these into three main orientations: constructive styles, passive/defensive styles, and aggressive defensive styles.

Importantly, the framework aligns leadership and culture objectives, reflecting the central role leaders play in shaping culture and the way both elements are critical to the performance and sustainability of organisations, teams and projects. The Circumplex is an over-arching framework that provides clear and tangible strategies for ongoing coaching and improvement as as a precise means to measure progress made towards leadership and culture objectives.

Constructive Styles:

Affiliative: Reflects an interest in developing and sustaining pleasant relationships. People high in this style share their thoughts and feelings, are friendly and cooperative and make others feel a part of things.

Humanistic-Encouraging: Reflects an interest in the growth and development of people, a high positive regard for them and sensitivity to their needs. People high in this style devote energy to coaching and counseling others, are thoughtful and considerate and provide people with support and encouragement.

Self-Actualising: Based on needs for personal growth, self-fulfillment and the realisation of one’s potential. People with this style demonstrate a strong desire to learn and experience things, creative yet realistic thinking and a balanced concern for people and tasks.

Achievement: Based on the need to attain high-quality results on challenging projects, the belief that outcomes are linked to one’s effort rather than chance and the tendency to personally set challenging yet realistic goals. People high in this style think ahead and plan, explore alternatives before acting and learn from their mistakes.

We recommend the Human Synergistic approach for the following key reasons:

Its tools offer a method of assessing the extent to which organisations, projects and individuals achieve a balance between the task and people elements of work.

Its tools offer a method of assessing the extent to which organisations and individuals are motivated by insecurities compared with being motivated by satisfaction.

The tools offer an objective method of measuring organisational culture and leadership behaviour, enabling progress to be tracked over time.

Constructive leadership and culture styles are clearly aligned and linked to business performance.

Measurements can be achieved at both the individual and organisational level, and across every level of an organisation. Importantly, these are clearly presented through a consistent framework.

Tools we recommend:

Organisational Culture Inventory (OCI): Provides a profile of an organisation’s operating culture in terms of the behaviours that members believe are required to “fit in and meet expectations” within their organisation.

Organisational Effectiveness Inventory (OEI): Complements the OCI by measuring the causal factors of culture as well as additional outcomes at the individual, group and organisational levels.

Leadership Impact (LI): Provides leadership profile on the effectiveness of an individual around leadership strategies and the impact of these on the behaviour and performance of those being led.

Life Styles Inventory (LSI): Identifies an individual’s leadership style by assessing the thoughts and motivations that guide their behaviour, as well as providing feedback on behaviours from those working with the individual.